Geneva, May 22 (IANS): Swiss President Alain Berset has said that he plans to visit Russia during this summers FIFA World Cup, and will attend the first match of his countrys national team.

"Right now, I can say that participation is on the agenda, - no, not participation, I am not going to play - but attend Switzerland's first match to support the team," the president told TASS news agency on Monday.

He declined to say whether he was scheduled for meetings with Russian authorities.

"At the moment, we can neither confirm nor deny anything (to this respect). Currently, a trip to Russia is planned, and then we will see what the programme will be," the Swiss president said.

Russia selected 11 cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup -- Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 above-mentioned cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.

The Swiss national team will share Group E with Brazil, Costa Rica and Serbia. It will have its first match on June 17, playing against Brazil in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

The match between Switzerland and Serbia is scheduled to be played in the Russian Baltic city of Kaliningrad, on June 22. The match against Costa Rica will be held in the Central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on June 27.